Pasadena officials question voting rights appeal

In a sign of waning confidence in its legal position, the Pasadena City Council voted Tuesday to withhold payment from the law firm that's trying to prove that the city's redistricting plan doesn't discriminate against Hispanics.

The 7-1 vote, with Mayor Johnny Isbell absent, exposed the degree to which the mayor has unilaterally pressed for an appeal of a federal judge's ruling that the plan was discriminatory.

Council members complained they don't fully understand the status of the lawsuit or of the work being done by Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP of Austin.

Councilman Sammy Casados said he and other members have asked the mayor to put an update on the agenda, but he has declined.

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Isbell couldn't be reached for comment. Councilman Darrell Morrison said he was out with the flu.

The mayor backed a redistricting plan that created six council district seats and two at-large positions, replacing an all-district seat system. A federal judge rejected the plan in January, saying it was deliberately aimed at diluting Hispanic voting strength to ward off an impending power shift in the increasingly Latino city. Isbell instructed the city's attorneys to appeal.

Even council members who previously have aligned themselves with Isbell and his redistricting plan expressed concern.

Morrison noted the absence of city staff who could address questions about the lawsuit.

"Where do we stand on this thing and what is the next step?" Morrison asked. "For that reason, I won't support this (payment)."

Only Councilwoman Pat Van Houte voted to make the $50,000 payment, but she did so reluctantly, saying it was compensation for work already completed and pledging not to vote for future payments.

Van Houte and fellow council members Cody Ray Wheeler, Ornaldo Ybarra and Casados have opposed the redistricting plan and urged the city to stop fighting the suit. The city's May election will take place with the single-member voting districts intact, per the judge's ruling. The judge also ordered Pasadena to seek clearance from the government before making any other changes to its election system.

Isbell's posture on the lawsuit, paired with last week's meeting, when he asked Wheeler, who is Hispanic, to "speak up, boy," have inflamed tensions in a town with a long-running north-south divide.

The Greater Houston Coalition for Justice and its lead activist, Johnny Mata, said Tuesday that it was contemplating suing the city over unequal distribution of federal grants to the primarily Anglo south side, to the neglect of the Latino north side.

Casados complained that the city has spent about $2.5 million on the voting rights issue, while simultaneously raising water rates to bring in about the same amount for infrastructure.

"It's ridiculous," he said. "This appeal needs to be dropped."

At least three of the seven candidates for mayor have said they would drop the appeal. Isbell is term-limited.